6th April to 13th July 2025
Bardfield Murals: Ravilious, Bawden, Rowntree and others
We kick off our 40th anniversary year in the Gibson Room at the Fry Gallery with an exciting exhibition which brings together rarely-seen works that shed light on an important strand of the Bardfield artists’ story: mural making. Starting with Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden’s celebrated Morley College work in 1930, mural painting kept the leading artists in Great Bardfield busy. Kenneth Rowntree, Michael Rothenstein and Olga Lehmann also contributed to this mid-century upsurge in mural work. Their work was seen in libraries, schools, wartime British Restaurants, at the Festival of Britain, on P&O ocean liners and more, and depicted English life, landscape, history and science.
The Bardfield Murals exhibition curated by Alan Powers and Neil Jennings shows the preparatory studies and sketches for major projects, many now lost. A new book by Alan Powers, published to coincide with the exhibition, reveals the full range, highlighting the need to preserve those murals that have survived.
The exhibition is supported by the Shell Corner Charitable Trust.
Image: Eric Ravilious, Harlequin, pencil and wash c.1929. Collection of the Fry Art Gallery